AJ Annila is a director with an original visionary power as proved by his previous films, both with an approach of myth and fantasy: Jade Warrior (2006, a Chinese co-production) and Sauna (2008, set in the violent 16th century). Annila's new film Ikitie is based on grim historical reality, but the visual power is undiminished, achieved with the master cinematographer Rauno Ronkainen.

A cycle within Tuuri's family cycle consists of three Jussi Hakala novels. In Taivaanraapijat / [The Skyscrapers, 2005] Jussi builds skyscrapers in New York in the 1910s. In Kylmien kyytimies / [The Driver of the Departed] (2007) the pacifist Jussi has to deal with the corpses of Finland's 1918 Civil War. And finally in Ikitie, set in the 1930s, Jussi has to endure both the White Terror of Finland and Stalin's Great Terror on the other side of the border.

There is a strong documentary impulse in Tuuri's work, and also the seemingly incredible story of Ikitie is based on fact. In his accounts of overwhelming ordeals Tuuri's approach is the same as in the classics of antiquity, say, in Xenophon's Anabasis. Let's also remember that Tuuri has translated Icelandic sagas. There is no need to dramatize, and the writer strives to achieve a sober, objective, and unflinching viewpoint. The result can be breathtaking. I don't know if Ikitie has been translated into English. If it hasn't, it should.

Tuuri's novels have been adapted into popular films. Pohjanmaa (1988) is still the best, the others being Talvisota / The Winter War (1989), Ameriikan raitti [The American Way, 1990], Rukajärven tie / Ambush (1999), and Lakeuden kutsu [The Call of the Plains, 2000].

Ikitie is a worthy entry to the cinematic corpus of Antti Tuuri stories. I don't remember a previous Finnish fictional film dramatizing Stalin's Great Terror from the inside. There are a great many of such stories in Finland as catalogued by Erkki Vettenniemi in his dissertation and other works, among them several worth filming.

A distinction of Tuuri's novel is that the account of Stalin's Terror is preceded by an account of the White Terror. The events start in 1931 when the pacifist Jussi Hakala becomes a victim of violent extreme right-wing terror (the Lapua Movement). He is deported from his home in Western Finland to the Eastern border, and can escape certain death only by fleeing to the other side.

"Ikitie" was the road across Finland used for the terrorist deportations of those who dared to think differently than the right-wing extremists. While the perpetrators were often dubious characters, they had the silent support of authority figures in the military and the police, and among doctors, lawyers, teachers and clergymen. They kept the "eternal road" moving. This aspect is almost completely bypassed in the film adaptation, as is the fact that the Lapua Movement was outlawed soon after Jussi's deportation. Finland had been starting to slip in the direction of the Fascist / authoritarian developments in Eastern Europe, Germany, and Italy, but the liberal current proved stronger. Most Finns had a distaste for violent fanaticism.

This story could provide material for a masterpiece to be compared with Masaki Kobayashi's The Human Condition / Ningen no joken. But while the story is strong, the physical production convincing and the performances gripping, there is a curious lack of intensity at times. We witness a community of people enthusiastically building a new society and observe them being abruptly executed in an operation of genocidal terror. Somehow both the enthusiasm and the terror seem mild compared with the novel.

Almost miraculously Jussi Hakala manages to flee back home in 1938. Although the Lapua Movement has been banned, Hakala is still at first harassed by the Finnish security police. This aspect is also missing from the film adaptation.

Ikitie the film is a powerful and worthy entry in Finnish historical epic cinema, but I wish it were a bit more complex in the vein of such recent intelligent works like Raja 1918 / The Border 1918 and Kuulustelu / The Interrogation.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: CREDITS FROM ELONET:BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: CREDITS FROM ELONET:

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About Me

Antti Alanen (born 1955) is Film Programmer at National Audiovisual Institute (Finland), which runs the Cinema Orion in Helsinki. This diary is an irregular notebook and scrapbook of rough notes on films and related matters. Spoiler alert: I spoil everything because for me plot and conclusion are essential to discuss!

Jazz Record of the Week 29/2017

Jazz Record of the Week 29/2017

Freddie Redd Quartet: The Music from The Connection [1960] (Freddie Redd Six Classic Albums 2/6)

Jazz Record of the Week 29/2017

Introducing Freddie Redd (Freddie Redd Six Classic Albums 1/6)

Jazz Record of the Week 28/2017

Kenny Dorham: Jazz Contrasts

Jazz Record of the Week 20/2017

Joe Henderson: Page One

Jazz Record of the Week 17/2017

Miroslav Vitouš: The Bass

Jazz Records of the Week 16/2017

Billie Holiday: All or Nothing at All (5 Original Albums 5/5)

Jazz Records of the Week 16/2017

Billie Holiday: Stay with Me (5 Original Albums 4/5)

Jazz Records of the Week 16/2017

Billie Holiday: Songs for Distingué Lovers (5 Original Albums 3/5)

Jazz Records of the Week 16/2017

Billie Holiday: Body and Soul (5 Original Albums 2/5)

Jazz Records of the Week 16/2017

Billie Holiday: Lady Sings the Blues (5 Original Albums Box Set 1/5)

Jazz Record of the Week 14/2017

The Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin: The Inner Mounting Flame

Jazz Record of the Week 13/2017

Eero Koivistoinen: For Children

Jazz Record of the Week 8/2017

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman

Jazz Record of the Week 7/2017

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: In a Mellotone

Jazz Record of the Week 6/2017

Duke Ellington: Piano Reflections

Jazz Record of the Week 5/2017

Miles Davis: Bitches Brew

Jazz Record of the Week 4/2017

Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus

Jazz Record of the Week 3/2017

Dollar Brand Quartet: Africa – Tears and Laughter

Jazz Record of the Week 52/2016

Albert Ayler: Goin' Home

Jazz Record of the Week 49/2016

Charles Lloyd: Forest Flower, live at Monterey

Jazz Record of the Week 48/2016

Sinikka Oksanen, Antero Stenberg, Radio Sessions 1959-1966

Jazz Record of the Week 47/2016

Django Reinhardt Vol. 6: 1940: Nuages

Jazz Record of the Week 43/2016

The Essence of Louis Armstrong (Phontastic, Sweden, 1987)

Jazz Record of the Week 42/2016

Tomasz Stańko: Balladyna

Jazz Record of the Week 39/2016

Cannonball Adderley: Somethin' Else

Jazz Record of the Week 38/2016

Tommy Flanagan Trio: Overseas

Jazz Record of the Week 37/2016

Miles Davis: Miles Smiles

Jazz Record of the Week 36/2016

Red Garland Trio: Groovy

Jazz Record of the Week 35/2016

John Coltrane: My Favorite Things

Jazz Record of the Week 34/2016

The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out

Jazz Record of the Week 33/2016

Christian Schwindt Quintet: For Friends and Relatives

Jazz Record of the Week 32/2016

Carola & Heikki Sarmanto Trio

Jazz Record of the Week 25/2016

Cecil Taylor: Silent Tongues

Jazz Record of the Week 24/2016

Sonny Rollins: A Night at the Village Vanguard (1957, 2 cd reissue 2016)

Jazz Record of the Week 23/2016

Charlie Mingus: Blues & Roots

Jazz Record of the Week 22/2016

Mal Waldron: Moods

Jazz Record of the Week 21/2016

Django Bates: Belovèd Bird

Jazz Record of the Week 20/2016

Jacques Loussier Trio: The Original Play Bach Vols. 1 & 2

Jazz Record of the Week 19/2016

Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges: Side by Side

Jazz Record of the Week 18/2016

Ray Charles: Genius+Soul=Jazz. Complete 1956-1960 Sessions with Quincy Jones (Genius+Soul=Jazz, The Genius of Ray Charles, The Genius Hits the Road, and from The Great Ray Charles and The Genius After Hours)